Mechanical musical instrument.



G. DE c. BEGO. MECHANICAL MUSICAL INSTRUMENT.

APPLIGATION FILED 00T.23l 1902.

Patented Apr. 18, 1911.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

uunuuuuunu 989,8749 Patented Apr. 18, 1911.

G. DE G. RBGO.

MECHANICAL MUS'CL INSTRUMENT. APPLIOATION FILED 001:23, 1902.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

A G. DE U. RBGO. MECHANICAL MUSICAL' INSTRUMENT.

APPLIOATION FILED 001.23, 1902.

989,8?4 Patented Apr, 18, 1911.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 3 G. DE C. RBGC.

MECHANICAL 'MUSICAL INSTRUMENT.

APPLIGATION FILED ooT.2 s,19o2.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 4.

.Jg 33 51176 I Patented Apr. 18, 1911.

UNITED STATES PATENT clarion. l

GEORGE :DE CAIROS REGO, OF SYDNEY, NEW SOUTH WALES, AUSTRALIA.

MECHANICAL MUSICAL INSTRUMENT.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 18, 1911,

Application led ctober 23, 1902. Serial N o. 129,268.

To all 'whom 'it' may concern.'

Be it known that I, GEORGE DE CAIRos Reco, subject of the King of GreatBritain,

, organs, and the like.

residing at Sydney, in the Colony of New South Wales, Australia, haveinvented a certain new anduseful Improvement 'in Mechanical MusicalInstruments7 (Case'1',) of which the following is a full, clear,concise, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying'drawings, forming a part of this specification.

My invention relates in general to musical instruments, and inparticular to mechanical musical instruments which are operated by thetraveling of a perforated sheet of music over a tracker board or similardevice having 'a series of ports with which the perforations in themusic sheet successively register as the sheet advances. Instruments ofthis kind are, mechanical piano players, (frequently calledself-players,) zeolians, reed Certain of these instruments, such as themechanical piano players of self-players, are employed tooperate thekeyboard of another instrument such as a piano;.in'others of theseinstruments the traveling sheet of music is ar-- ranged in theinstrument itself and produces the operation of the same.v

The object of my'invention is to arrange for the accentuation of. anynote or series, group or collection of notes, so that such note orseries or group of notes will be played more loudly 'than the othernotes in the-composition. yThe most common application of this principlewould be to accent a melody or melodic phrase so that it will stand outover the accompaniment. A

In carrying out my invention as hereinafter more particularly setfo-rth, I provide -a duplex or double tracker board; that is, a

tracker board having two like sets of ports or openings, eaclrsim'ilarto the usual set of ports or openings in a tracker hoard; and I connect.each set of ports or openings with the usual pneumatic apparatus orpneumatics so that the latter will be selectively actuated by theadmission of air into the ports. I also provide a. duplex perforatedsheet of music; that is, a sheet of music adapted to extend and travelover both sets of tracker hoard ports and I provide this sheet of music.with wo diiterent sets or series of perforations, one for'ltheunaccented or.t.he accompaniment notes, and the other for the accentedor melodic notes. By such arrangement the unaccented or accompanimentperforations travel over one set of tracker board ports or openings andactuate the pneumatics in the usual way to produce the accompanimentnotes, while the other set of perforations travels over the other set oftracker board ports or openings and causes the actuation of thepn'emnatics .so as bring about the accentuation of the notes of saidsecond set 'of perforation's.

As a preferred arrangen'ient, the unaccomed o1 accompaniment set ofperfor-ations includes .all of the notes both unacccuted and accented,and the accented set of perforations includes only the accented notes.and' these latter'perforations are placed correspondingly on the musicsheet so that. the corresponding notes in the two sets of perforationsreach thecorresponding ports simultaneously.. l In this way a pneumaticor pneumatic apparatus for actuating an accented note or series ofnotes, receives a double impulse, one from the unaccented oraccompaniment setof tracker board ports, and the other from the accentedor melody set of ports. This double actuation produce.-4 a distinctlyharder blow, thereby causing the louder 'actuation of the accented ormelodic note or series or group of notes.

As a matter 'of further and specific improvement, I desirably arrangefor the control of the accented or melody notes so as to-vary theloudncss or prominence of the same, as wellA as to control the loudnessof board ports at the salue time that the corre# spending acconuianimentor unaccented pei'-,

forations reach the corresponding ports. As

-a result the wind is cconomized, because it is not used .in theaccented or melody pneumatlcs aft-er the accentlng cii'ecl has beensccured after the striking ol the blow. l also 4provide other matters offurther specific improvement which will be pointed out hereinafter.

In the accompanying drawings I have shown my invention as applied tomechanical piano players or seht-players, although it vwill beunderstood that I donotintend to be understood as so limiting it, as itsuse can be extended toA other musical instruments without departing fromthe spirit of` the invention. In as much as there are two well known anddifferent -types of mechanical piano players operating on diiferentprinciples so far as the pneumatic actions are concerned, I have shownboth of such types with my' invention applied to each. In one type thepneumatics which operate the fingers for striking the piano keys,opento` produce the striking blow, and in the other type these pneumaticsclose.

In the accompanying drawings, Figures 1 and 2 are respectivelylongitudinal and Atransverse sections of a portion of a mechanical pianoplayer embodying my present invention; Fig. 3 is a plan view of the lmusic sheet and the tracker board over which the music travels; Fig. 4is a view of the lever arrangement for controlling the expression ofboth the accented and unaccented notes; Fig. 5 is a viewer' a printedmusic sheet showing the score for -a player einbodying the presentinvention; Fig. 6 is a transverse section of a portion of a playerconstructed with opening pneumatics, ernbodying my invention; Fig. 7 isa section taken on line 7-7 in Fig. 6; and Figs. 8

and 9 are transverse sections of'a portion of'a player provided withclosing pneumatics embodying my invention.

` d icated at 2, 2, and the ports in the section 'b at 3, 3. From thetracker board 1 tubesl or passages 4, 4, and 5, 5, lead downwardly, thepipes 4, 4, being extended from the section a', andl 5, 5 from thesection b. The

- tubes or pipes 4, 4, can 'be made either ot -flexible elastic materialsuchas "rubber, or' of metal such as lead, as desired iin theconstruction of the instrument. -'l;ie.y extend downwardly from thetracker pbard l to a front board 6, which latter is p jovide with twosets or series of apertures r-ducs 7, 7 and 8, 8 whereof the series' 8,8, isr conveniently inthe rear of theseries 7, 7. The pipes '4, 4 and 5,5 are connected .with these two different sets'or series of apertures,the pipes 4, 4, for example, with the rear series 8, 8, and the pipes 5,5, with the front series 7, 7, all as well shown in Figs. 1 and 2.

I will refer now more particularly to Figs. 6 and 7, which, it will beremembered,

show a portion of' a player Whose p'neumaticsv v produce the'strikingblow by opening. In these figures, the front board 6 is shown arrangedat one side of a structure whose top 75 is the mounting board 9, whichit'is understood is the usual board-upon which the pneumatics foractuating the striking fingers of the player,are arranged. One of thesepne'uinatics c is shown in Fig. 6, in or- 80 dei' tov indicate theirlocation and-generall arrangement. As they form no part of my presentinvention, they have not been shown indetail or fully. It is understoodthat they are `the usual set or series ,of pneumatics for operating tliestrikin .ing'ers, one pneumatic for each finger. T e'bottoniot' thestructure consists of the lifter. board 10 provided with ducts l1,11,-and'12, 12, whereof the ducts 11,v 11, connect withthe apertures orducts 7 7, in the front bo-ard- 6, and the 'ducts 12, 12, connect withthe rear apertures 8, 8, in said front board. The lifter board 10 isprovided lwith two sets of lift. Y ers 13, 13, and l4,"l4,fwhicharezmadeof 95 flexible material such as leather, in the usual manner. Thelitters 13, 13, are ,arran ed at the eiidsof the ports 11, 11, and thelifters 14, 14, at the ends-of the portsl 12, 12.

The structure is provided with a valve board 15 which lis arrangedbetween the mounting beard 9 and the lifter boa-rd 10. Between themounting board 9 and valve board 15 is a partition 16 and an end wall17.;' the former divides 'the space between the boards 105' I 9 and 15into two chambers 1'8 and 19 which form wind trunksand are understood tobe connected with the outside air. The space etween the boards 10 and 15is an exhaust or vacuum chest 36 and is understood to be 110 connectedwith the vacuum or exhaust ap' paratusgcommonly employedin pianoplayers. The mounting board 9' is provided witlia series of apertures20, which are understood to communicate with the iinger'- 115 actuatingpneumatics c, of the player. These apertures 20, 20, extend dwn throughthe partition 16 4and are connected with cross ducts'orpassages 21, 21,which extend across the board 15.' Each duet or passage 120 21 isprovided with two ports 22 and^23 at one end, and a ,portl24 at=theother end. The ports -22 and 23 are controlled by. valves -25 and 26on avalve spindle 27 ,supported by the lifter 14. The port 24' is controlled125 'by a valve 28von a valve spindle 29 carrie-d by the lifter 13.4The-'valve spindles 27 and 29 'are provided with the usiial supportsand* guides 30,-30 and 31,31. 'A supplemental valve bo'ard 32, isarranged beliiv'and sup- .i3-3

man

ported by the valve board 15. rlLhis supplemental board 32 is provided`with a valve one of the spools, as for examplethe' spool 41, in theusual manner. The music sheet 40 is provided with two sets or series ofperforations 43, 43 and 44, 44.' The .perfora-v tions 43, 43, register,as the music sheet is drawnalong, with the .ports 2, 2 in the section aot the tracker board, and the perforations 44, 44, register with theports 3, 3, in

' lthe section b thereof. The perforations 43,

43, are for the notes which are not to be accented, which forconvenience I shall call accompaniment notes, althoughA it will be seenthat this is more limiting than is required by the invention. Theperforations 44, 44, are for the notes'which are to be accented, whichfor convenience I shall term the melody notes. The accompaniment side.

of the music sheet has perfor-ations correspending tothe perforations onthe melody or accented side. By preference the melody perforations,however, are all short in length, whereas the corresponding perforationsin the accompaniment side are of various lengths so as to give t-he fulltime value of the note. A

From the foregoing the operation of the As the music 'sheet advances theperforations 43, 43, admit air into the ports 2, 2, and thereby causet-he operation of the litters 14, 14'. The operation of these lattercause the ports 22,

22 to be opened, and 23, 23 to be closed,

thereby establishing communication between the accompaniment. -orunaccented wind trunk 18 and the pneumatics, through the ports 20, 20,thereby causing the actuation of the pneumati'cs. Communication with theexhaust or vacuum chest 36 at such time is prevented by the valve 34controlling the port 35, and thereby interference with the action'of thepneumatics when the litters 14, 14, alone are operated, is prevented. Atthe same time that the perforations 43, 43, are causing the actuation ofthe pneumatics, to

-play the accompaniment notes, the melody perforatlons 44ad1nit air intocertain of the ports 3, 3, in the section of the tracker board. Thiscauses the actuatlon lof the lifte'rs 13, 13, thereby actuating vthevalve spindles 29, 29, and connecting the ports 24, 24, also with thewind trunk 19,'l there y The movei ing communication between the duct 21and the exhaust chest 36. In as much as the melody perforations 44,44,have their counterparts in the perforations 43, 43, the pneumaticsactuating the fingers which are 'to play the melody, receive double oraugmented 0r emphasized actuations, thereby causing the playing of themelody more loudly or prominently than the accompaniment. Since theperforations 44, 44, are. desirably short, the melody actuations of* thepneumatics are momentary only at the striking of the note, 'afterwhichthe melody actuation ceases; the sustaining of the accented notesduring their proper time values, is accomplished by the accompanimentactuations. This eifects an economy of wind and reduces the labor ofoperating the machine.

The scoring of music for a duplex tracker board and music sheetoperating in accordance with my invention as just described, is

shown in Fig. 5. In this arrangement the staves 3 land 4 bear thecomplete composition and are forthe accompaniment section of the trackerboard and music sheet; the

'staves 1 and 2 bear the melody notes or theme, and are for the melodyor unaccented side of the tracker board and music sheet.

I will refer now to Figs. 8 and 9, in which, it will be remembered, isshown certain mechanism of a mechanical piano player operated bypneumatics which close to produce the striking blow. ln thisconstruction a front board (3 having ducts or' passages 7, 7 and 8, 8a,whereof thepassages 7a are connected with. the tubes or pipes 4, 4, andthe. passages 8 with the tubes or pipes 5, The hoard (5l is extendeddownwardly to form oneside of a structure, and on the opposite side is arear board 45. .The top of the structure is formed by a top board 4G,

,and the bottom by a bottom board 47. Be-

low the top board 46 are a primary valve board 4S and primary lifterboard 4%). Between the boards 4G and 48 is a partition 5() dividing thespace between said boards into wind trunks 51 and 52. The space betweenthe boards 48 and 4S) is a vacuum chamber or chest S'and is understoodto be connected with the vacuum-producing apparatus ot the player. Theboard 46 is provided with ducts or passages 53, o3, the partition 50.with ducts or passages 54,21nd the ,board 48 with ducts or passages 55,55, whereof the l corresponding ducts or passages 53, 54 andAcommunicate with one another to form -continuous ducts or passages,shown in Fig. T he passages 55, 55, each have ports 5G and 57, and thesearc controlled by puppety valves 58, 58, actuated Aby litters 59, 59,arranged on passagesGO, G0, communicatingr with the rear front boardapertures or openings Ta, The board 48 isalso provided with passages(5,1., 01, each having `ports 62 `l and63 controlled by a' puppet valve64, actuated by litters 65, 65 on ducts or passages 66, 66,communica-ting with the front ducts or passages 8a, 8 in the front board6a. The

passages 53 and tilcommunicate respectively Vwith'passages 67 and 68mthe rearboard 45, and these in turn communicate with passages 69- and 70in a lifter board-71. On this lifter board are arranged lifters 72, 72

and 73,7 3, located in exhaust chests 74 and 7 5 respectively. Thelifters 72, 72 and 73, 73

control' valve spindles 76, 76 and 77, 77,

' fingers.

' music sheet cause the operation of the lifters :cate with the outsideair. board \71l is another wind chest 82a, other having valves 78 and79, and 80 respectively. Above the exhaust chests 74, 75 are ducts orpassages 81, 81, which are understood to communicate with part of theusual set of pneumatics d, d which operate the striking Above thepassage 81 is an air trunk 82.which is understood to communie I Belowthe lifter pneumatic ducts or passages Sli, 81*,'exliaust chests 74a and75a, and lifters and valves 72,-

721,73 a, 73, etc., corresponding to the wind trunk 82, the passages 81,81, etc. The paslsages ,81s, 81a communicate with the other portionvofthe set of pneumatics d, 0 3. The lowerpneumatic passages 81, 811L andcontrolling valve mechanismscommunicate, by

" ranged between the ports or passages 7a and means of ducts or passages7a and 8a ar- 88l controlling the pneumatic passages 81, 8l.

The arrangement herein shown operates on'the same general principles asthat set forth in connection with Figs. 6 and 7: The accompanimentperforations 43, 43, in the 59 59, thereby admitting air into thepassages 55, 55, and actuating the litters 72, 72, as a result ofwhichcommunication with the passages 81, 81, is cut oil from the wind trunk82 and opened 4to the accompaniment exhaust. chest 74, vthereby causingvthe pneumatics to be exhausted and collapsed orA closed. In a similar-way thev melody perforations 44, 44, cause the operation of the moreforcibly .than the accompaniment notes. It'will be seen that the onlycommunie-ation between the wind trunk 82 andv the pneumatic passages 81,81, is by way of ports controlled by the accompaniment valves 78, 78,.whereby the operation of the accompaniment notes is not interfered with`by themclody Valve mechanism.

In Fig. 4 I have shown an 'arrangement for controlling 'the wind in thewind'chests' 18 and 1 9, in the arrangement of Figs. 6 and 7, and in theexhaust chests 74,75 in the arrangement of Figs. Band 9. AIn thisarrangement there are two levers 86- and 87 -whereof the lever 86 is tocontrol the accompaniment notes, and the lever 87 to controlthe melodynotes. These two levers are shown as being connected with links 88, andv89 respectively, which it is understood 'are' connected with valvessuitably located' in the wind trunks or vacuum chests asIequired. Thesevalves are' not shown inthe drawings,

as the part of the player in which they are located is not shown;`but itwill be Iunderstood that they can be any suitable form of controllingvalve, such for example as simpley slide valves adapted to move back andforth across the various passages, to ope'n them to a greater or lessextent as desired. The levers 86 and 87 are led to the top and front ofthe player in any desired manner, and the lever 87 has a bent end90extending-through a slit near the t'op of the lever`86. The control iseffected by shifting either or both of these levers as required. Thearrangement is such that this can be done readily by placing the top ofthe lever 86 between two of the fingers of the left hand andvoperatinvthe lever 87 by the thumb of the 'samehan' thereby placing the entireexpression inthe control of one hand-,and permitting a' variationrelatively between the accompaniment and melody parts as desired.

It will be seen bythe' foregoing, that I provide a simple, practical andeffective manner of allowing the-accent of any note or series or groupof notes. It e un- Vderstood that I do not intend to limit myself tothearrangement herein set forth,- as the same can be modified, variedorchanged, -without departing from thespirit of my invention.

'What I claim as my invention 1s:-

. 1..The combinationl with.; Aa duplicate/ tracker board, and dulicatesets of passages -leading4 therefrom, o pneumatic key-strikingmechanisms, two pneumatic -ducts'- or chambers, a third ductoijchanlgcr, passages leading tothe pneumatic key-'strikin mechanisms, andtwo valve systems, one o which opens and closes said passages to one ofsaid pneumatic ducts or chambers and said 4thirdduct,.to control saidsystems, and the other 'of which valve systems opens andfclo'ses theother pneumatic ductor chamber to 'said' passages so as to coperate withthe lilstmentioned valve mechanisms to cause the secondv pneumatic,"duct or chamber to intersiy certain actuations of thekey-strikingmechanisms, substantially as described.

.2. In i a mechanical musical instrument, the combination with thepneumaticallyQoperated key-strikingrmechanism, of two wind systems,a-duplicate tracker systemgoverning said striking mechanisms through theagency of said tWo `Wind systems, valves for In Witness whereof, Ihereunto subscribe controlling said two Wind systems, and lemy name this17th day of Getober A. D., vers controlling said valves, said levers be-1902.

ing associated and one of the same being GEORGE DE C-AIROS REG. bent andthe other having an aperture Witnesses: through which the bent end ofthe first lever NELSON BOOTH,

is extended. MILLER BELFIELD.

